Efficiency in cognitive tasks with varying degrees of complexity under stressful conditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15291/ai.1273Keywords:
cognitive tasks, complexity, efficiency, memory, stressAbstract
The aim of this research was to determine how stress affects the efficiency in cognitive taskswhich differ in their demands. Three different cognitive tasks were used: two memory tasks(on recognition level and level of free recall) and a problem solving tasks. It was assumed thatthe effect of stress will not be the same at all levels of tasks demands, but there will be theinteractive effect of these two factors in a way that the stress will have a negative effect in themost demanding, complex task (problem solving task) and positive effect in the least demandingtask (memory on the level of recognition).The research included 59 participants, student from University of Zadar whose average age was20.75 years. Subjects were divided into three groups, while each group performed one type oftask on two occasions, once in conditions with stress, and once in stress-free conditions. Stresswas induced by presenting a 20-minute war movie clip. For each task, there were two parallelforms (for each experimental situation), so each participant attended two testing situationsspaced about a week apart.The results show that when it comes to cognitively least demanding task, memory on recognitionlevel, exposure to stress led to performance improvements, there was no effect of stress whenit comes to medium demanding task (memory on level of free recall), while on the problemsolvingtask, which represents the most demanding and more complex cognitive task used in thisresearch, stress had a negative impact on performance. Therefore, it can be said that there is nodefinite answer on how stress impacts the efficiency in cognitive tasks, because that depends ontasks demands.
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